There’s a slot in the top that quickly accepts spent utility knife blades. And unless you jostle the dispenser a certain way, disposed-of blades aren’t likely to come out on their own. There are handy keyhole slots for mounting it vertically to a wall or other such surface.

Off-topic but related, I actually picked up 2 of the Dewalt Carbide Edge utility knife 50-count packs. One is made in the USA, and another was “new old stock” at a different Home Depot location, with the blades made in England.

Hmm, now I kind of regret it – a pack of 50 Stanley Carbide Edge blades are lower priced on Amazon than what I paid. Are they the same exact product? Possibly. Probably? Out of curiosity I’ll be doing some testing with made in USA Dewalt blades, made in England Dewalt blades, and a small pack of Stanley blades.

Dewalt, Stanley, and Milwaukee, and a number of other brands all offer convenient dispensers that also offer a safe place to deposit spent blades. That’s what I plan to use from now on. I’ll mount my new dispenser to the workshop wall.

There are blade disposal containers you could buy, and also various DIY ways to create blade dispensers out of everyday containers.

It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, but I haven’t been going through utility knife blades often enough to really stop and deal with it. With each blade change, it was “oh, maybe next time I’ll make a quick disposal container.” But I kept postponing it.

This 50-count blade pack by itself will likely last me at least a year. Whether you go through 10 blades a day, or 1 blade a week, how many blades do you buy at once? Probably not a year’s worth. And that’s why it’s taken me so long to pick up one of these bulk dispenser packs.

Dual-purpose blade dispensers have been around for a long time, and a lot of people know about them. But there are still lots of folks who don’t know of them, and plenty others who can’t justify buying 50, 75, or 100 blades at a time.

So that brings me back to my question – How do you dispose of your dull utility knife blades?

That is not a good idea. There are not people at these recycle centers opening up plastic bottles and separating the bottle and the contents inside. You’re actually creating more problems than doing good.

Yeah, my area has started the ‘oops’ policy for recycling, where inspectors literally come by and will go through your recycling contents for this exact reason. Doesn’t happen every week, but since the city requires recycling, it’s pretty annoying to have to let things pile up even more and go through it and all that. It’s not so much for safety, but for more efficiency at the sorting facility; those different materials go into different machines…and if they accidentally don’t, large amounts of ‘stuff’ ends up in a dump anyway.

Anyway, these guys will check that the right material is in the right bins, and even shake plastic bottles/non-clear containers to make sure they’re empty. If not, they do not take any of your recycling contents, and leave a message that…you screwed up in some way.

I don’t put anything metal for the city recycling; there is a custom bike shop near by that takes any kinds of metal and even pay for it when commodity prices are right. And he is happy to take leftover utility blades, saw blades, cam shafts, cans, etc.

Whatever city that’s doing that is crazy. I see nothing good that come out of this. If they make it so difficult to recycle people would just avoid it all together.

With that said, I understand that different city have different sorting capacity/method. So some guidance of how to make their job easier is more than appreciated. I do try to recycle as much as I can.

Lots of east coast cities do this. But it is also illegal to not recycle. So the guy checking the recycling is also going to check your trash. They won’t bust you over one or two occasional items, but you’ll get a written warning/reminder that you need to recycle properly. if it becomes a habit.

Small items are usually not worth recycling. The cost of the manual labour to sort them is too high. Best with small things (or mixed materials) is to toss them in the regular garbage.
Who knows… in 500 years, we may have machines that can sort old garbage dumps back into the basic elements.

If you and millions of other people have the same view point then an amazing amount of useable scrap metal is ending up in landfills that could otherwise be recycled into new product. I save all my scrap metal, down to small screws, nails, and staples, as JMG mentions below. It takes a bit of time to separate it, but I regularly will end up with almost 1000 pounds of steel, and a significant amount of aluminum and stainless. I make a tiny bit from it, but more importantly it gets recycled.

If we put too much small stuff (uneconomical to recycle), the recyclers will loose money, and go out of business, (or toss the stuff in the garbage anyway). Where I live the recyclers come by regularly to check our recycling box to make sure we are not costing them money with things that can’t be recycled with their equipment, or aren’t worth recycling.

Honestly, forcing everyone to be OCD with little bits of trash is a miserable way to run a solid waste program. Where I live, the recycling program isn’t mandatory. People participate anyway, and we get a fair amount recycled. What’s even better is that we take our trash and incinerate it for power.

I really think the best way to handle solid waste is one that requires the minimum amount of effort on the part of consumers and/or provides positive incentives (rewards rather than fines).

Not a good idea. People will just hoard trash, or throw it on the side of the road. Plus many people usually have only a small amount of trash but will occasionally need a larger bin for once-off items.

All our debris would go into big roughneck trash barrels we brought onto the jobsite. In the remodeling/general contracting business – we used a demolition/trash pick up company that worked in 2 of the 4 states where we did. I suspect that everything (including loose blades) they carted off went into landfills. For the other 2 states we’d use a carting service so the same thing happened. For small jobs/punch lists everything – including blades got bagged up and came back with us to our workout center dumpster. I think the guys might have buried some of the dull blades in drywall scraps.

BTW, I can not count how many jobs we did where the demo guys said that the wall below a medicine cabinet was filled with old safety razor blades. Many old medicine cabinets had a razor blade disposal slot and some of these blades could work their way down into the basement.

I’m not sure why so many people wrap their blades with tape? Whenever you remove a piece of flashing or cut a piece of tin, crush an aluminum can, or throw anything else with a mildly sharp edge away do you wrap it in tape and throw it in the garbage? When you break glass do all the little pieces get wrapped and protected with plastic and tape? There’s no need to add to the garbage, just throw the blade away, or preferably, throw it in your scrap metal pile and recycle them along with all your other metal.

If on the job and you can’t recycle the blade, take the used blade and drive it between tow studs, or even into the side of a stud. It’s no different than the nails that are shot into the stud, or the nail plates that are everywhere.

There’s a big difference in how sharp the middle of a used utility knife is and the edge of a piece of flashing, though I’ve got scars that prove flashing and metal studs are sharp. Plus once you’ve been on the job a while you expect the dangers from sheet metal and the size usually allows the danger to be readily seen. A used blade can lurk where it’s not expected and hurt someone.

When I was a commercial super and PM we always required people to tape them up and throw in the dumpster, not a local can that someone else might have to empty and be exposed. Otherwise you didn’t come back. Worked pretty well.

For me its a safety thing. I can’t count the number of times that a free blade in a garbage bag has worked its way out of the bag and cut its way through. Not exactly the kind of thing I want to find on the floor later or worse yet cutting myself when changing the bag.

This is going to sound harsh, but I gotta call you out on the “on the job” methods you described for disposing of blades which sounds to me to be very disrespectful and worse yet a willful disregard for safety for anyone coming behind you to doing work in the future. I hate doing work and finding garbage and worse yet loose blades just stuffed in walls and hidden like that and its incredibly dangerous. Things like finding soda cans stuffed in crawl spaces etc. Don’t be a jerk and take the 2 minutes to properly dispose of this stuff and have some respect for the guy in the future that will have to deal with your mess.

A great way that I use is the hard plastic container that Scotch super 33+ electrical tape comes in. They are also great loose bit holders. They are 100% see through and the lid shuts securely and stays closed. I have a few other uses for these as well. They are great!

I keep a small bucket for the sole purpose of collecting any small steel scrap items, such as those old blades and other items. When it gets full it goes to the local recycler along with any aluminum cans I have collected. Fortunately I have a recycling center less than one mile away, so it is no great burden to get rid of those items. Otherwise the payment would not be worth gas.

I do the same. All scrap metal goes into an old kitchen pot and when its full I dump it into the scrap metal pile at my local recycling center. They have a seperate metal drum for small stuff so its not just sitting on the ground.

Our local media has been freaking out . Someone lost a pack of blades . It broke open in a bike lane . Now the poor cyclists have been phoning into anyone who will listen . Telling their story of how someone tried to kill them . First world problems

Yes it is a First World Problem. It would be a better world indeed if we all (everyone on the planet) had the luxury of worrying about – or better yet doing something about – being frugal in our use of resources, recycling whatever was possible, practicing good stewardship of out planet’s environment and looking out for the welfare and safety of others (as in responsibly disposing of sharp objects.) Some of this is probably akin for our fervent desire for world peace.

We are blessed with the luxury of being able to have this discussion and worry about these things (instead of where to get our next meal or drink of clean water). That’s not to pooh-pooh that notion that its not worthwhile to undertake even little things like recycling or properly disposing of sharps. We can all do our bit. The broader issue is what we should be doing to properly dispose of construction waste – including all the metal that gets trashed (often easier, more efficient and less initially costly to do so) instead of being recycled.

Maybe in some future Orwellian state (or the Big Rock Candy Mountain), clients will all insist on and be willing to pay for contractors to sort out their demolition and construction debris into recyclable piles. In that time: there will also be no countries (third world or otherwise) that turn a blind eye to fouling our environment; there will be no unscrupulous contractors who improperly/illegally dump; and there will be no morning news stories about bags of asbestos debris or utility knife blades found along the highway.

The quote/unquote luxury of first world life is not something that just magically arose for no good reason. It was fought for and earned with efforts of people using their minds and muscles to get things done. Some of the motivation for that work is a sense of altruism, some of it a sense of community and social trust, and some of it economic self-interest. Ultimately, the first world isn’t a place so much as a people whose psychology and culture lead to the creation of the conditions associated with it. In other words, the first world exists only in the hearts and minds of the men who strive for it.

You’re right that we can all do our bit, but there are many different approaches each of us take to get that bit done.

The new containers are a great idea, but it’s going to be a long time before I work my way through the packs of blades I already have.

You can either buy a “sharps” container, or take a rigid, puncture-resistant plastic container and cut a slot in the lid to drop the blades into. When it’s full, tape it up well and drop it in the trash. Pretty standard way to dispose of sharps that aren’t contaminated.

For utility and snap off blades, I either tape them up, or run them over a sanding block / grinder whatever I have on hand to really dull them. But for really sharp blades, like scalpels. I sharpen them with a stone I have on my tool cart, so they last a very long time. If they finally break, I do the same as the other blades.

Dull blades and anything else of ferrous material (nuts, cut offs, screws, broken driver bits) goes into a steel paint can, when full the lit is hammered on and folded over and off to the scrap yard it goes.

In my fairly light non-commercial use I’ve always taped the edge and threw them in the “real” trash. That way they’ll rust away in perpetuity and no recycler will ever get stabbed. Though I’m not sure this is a “better” way…

It depends on the job site. I certainly don’t wrap them or put them in a special box to dispose them, although I should. Most of the time I just throw them in the trash if I’m at home. Most of the time I try to put em in a paper cup or plate. If I’m doing some smash & grab drywall (as much & as fast as possible) they get thrown in the wall with the insulation. Or they get tossed on the floor & swept up when it’s time to clean up with contractor bags. If I’m in an attic working, they blend in nicely with the insulation. In other words, I’m not going to stop working to safely dispose of trashed blades as long they make it to a contractor bag or out of harms way. Roofers are the worst of all. They just toss their blades wherever. Whether it be off the the roof, the gutters, or they just leave them on the roof to be washed into the gutters. If I’m on a job & I had to sub out the roof, I’ll hold half of the money until I’m sure that they thoroughly cleaned up the debris, nails & blades. Those guys really don’t care. Nails, screws, wood, flashing, cast iron, etc will pierce a bag or box & get you worse than a blade will.

When we were the GC on a remodeling job that included a roofing subcontract, we’d often follow up with a second then final sweep of the site with magnetic sweepers, rakes and brooms. We’d also do an attic cleanup. While our roofing subs were considered some of the best in the business there was still lots of residual debris. They were very good about leaving anything on the roof and gutters plus the lawns – because they knew we’d zing them for it and withhold payment. But what was hanging around in the foundation plantings was another thing entirely. I threatened one company that we were going to back-charge them by the pound for everything we’d pick up – and I think they got better for a while. The best thing we had a roofing sub leave on a roof (behind a parapet) was a gasoline engine-driven hot dog compressor. I think it took them over a week to call to see if we had retrieved it.

For years I have used a clear, label removed, empty Gator bottle with a slot cut into the cap. It’s big enough to hold a variety of blade sizes and any other small “sharps” that need safe disposal. When full, I remove the cap and place a small round cutout of cardboard inside the cap to act as a seal and it’s ready for disposal.

I’ve got an empty “blank” paint can for this purpose in my garage. I also brought one to out jobsite to keep in our “shack” in the parkade on commercial sites. Guys (and gals) know that this is a communal sharps container and swap out dull blades on break/lunch. Most guys know that their blade is about to be useless before it actually is and swap it out before it’s useless and tossed carelessly in the moment. Most like the idea of having a readily sharp knife for the sacrifice of leaving “a few cuts” on the blade. When full, the bin gets scrapped with other scrap metal. The container is steel, as are the blades, so it doesn’t need to be sorted.

I always thought myself a good recycler, but to be honest I never gave a second thought to old blades. I go through maybe 2 or 3 a week, and I’m thinking a small paint can would be the ticket. I could keep it in the work van, also after reading some of the posts it has come to my attention that I do come across a lot more scrap metal than I thought, I’m the reno guy at our company so there are lots of screws, mounting brackets, old boxes, chain, panels, cover plates, that are recyclable and I’m going to do my best to recycle it all.

Good make you think topic!

Almost forgot to say, I usually end up putting the old blade in the handle of my knife until I’m done the job, its the Dewalt folding knife, best spot for the blade as it can hold three spares.

Old paint sample can, the ones that hold maybe half a cup. Use them for any small sharp objects like blades, broken drill bits, etc. When full, hammer the lid back on and throw the whole thing in the steel recycle bin. Use a gallon paint can for bigger things. Putting the lid back on tight prevents blades from harming anything or anyone.

An empty Altoids mint box with a masking tape “Sharps” label is perfect! Holds an adequate amount of used blades, fits anywhere, and easily goes into the metal recycling when full. I keep several around, in various locations.

I tend to just chuck utility blades. But for my safety razor blades I didn’t want them lose in the small bathroom trashcan, so I routed a slit into an altoids can and drop them in through the side. Works well.

We use a sharps container… they’re cheap, work, and are designed for that specific purpose. They even make multiple-use ones that can be opened, poured out, and then closed. When it’s time to dispose of them, I just seal the container and toss it out. I respect my DPW guys too much to toss them in the household trash. I also put any broken glass into a double-paper-bag and tape the hell out of it. I’ve been cut before when people threw out broken fluoro tubes in the regular trash, and I’d like to avoid inflicting that on others.

Does noone else sharpen their blades? The carbide and even bi-metal don’t sharpen too well, but standard steel blades don’t need much work to get back to a hair-popping edge. Of course, when you can get a 100-pack for just a few bucks it might not seem worth the time, but it’s an option.

The plastic holders seem like a good idea, but it actually makes them harder to recycle since either the blades or the holder don’t get recycled depending how the recycling facility handles it. A better option is usually a steel can with a steel lid, marked clearly as “razor blades”, that way the whole canfull just gets opened and chucked in with the rest of the steel for recycling.

I know they went with plastic holders since it’s cheaper and lighter, but a thin steel blade holder would have made a whole lot more sense for recycling AND for safety. The plastic holder can shatter when dropped and the blades scatter everywhere. A steel holder might get bent up from a drop and damage the blades, but it’d likely stay intact.

I tape them up for safety reasons. I don’t often have to empty the rubbish bag in the garage so it tends to sit around for weeks at a time. When at work I still tape them up, again for safety, before throwing them as the bags we use are flimsy so its easy for them to cut through if not taped up.

I use snap off blades and do go through too many but it never occurred to me to recycle them. I will from now on though. Going to use a glass pasta jar or similar and cut a slot in the top to drop them in.

I have a little steel can (it was actually a coin bank from the $1 section at target) that has a pull-tab top open. Looks like the kind of can that canned meat comes in. I have another one in my bathroom, since I’m a safety razor guy.

At my day job as the safety guy in a factory, used blades go in a sharps container.

Put them in a can until you have enough to take to a scrap metal recycler — last time I checked, HSS was $1.50 / lb. — they were tossing the craft knife blades before I got there — when I pointed this out, they took ~40 lbs. to the recycler.

Is there some law about this? I just toss them in my trash bag, which gets picked up and tossed in a truck, which compacts it and dumps it in the dump. What’s the danger in that, why bother with all this taping or putting in other containers?

BUT where does it end? Someone could come along and make the same type of argument about rotten food being a biological hazzard. Are we to call in a hazmat team for spoiled food? You can’t just wrap it in tape or in a bag, then it outgasses and becomes and explosive biohazard.

Frankly, this is why trash collectors get paid more than they (otherwise) ought to for unskilled labor.

I read through all of these comments VERY MUCH EXPECTING for me not to be the only one who does this, but I suppose I’m just the wisest man who ever existed; a chew can. Piece of tape to cover the “Skoal” or “Copenhagen”, then a (yellow) Sharpie Paint Marker—“USED BLADES”—haven’t had one pop open on me in the years I’ve done this and the can will hold about 30 blades. Throw it in the tool box and go. Made them for the guys I work with and they swear by them as well.

Great topic to bring up, by the way; there are so many things that we seem to overlook on a daily basis and I’m glad you pointed it out—STILL can’t believe nobody else mentioned “chew can”.

Possibly because most of us don’t want mouth cancer so we don’t use dipping or chewing tobacco?

I’d imagine that if the guys you work with are swearing by them, what they’re really thinking is you’re being an arse for trying to impose upon them what they should do with their dull blades instead of letting them Decide For Themselves…. ‘Merica ‘n all.

In response to dave9, I was perusing this site (as I do daily) and checked out the deal for the Milwaukee Fastback bundle recently posted, then got to the bottom and saw, “how do you dispose of your utility blades” as a related post. I remembered giving my input on the aforementioned topic and checked to see if anyone added to it. Sure enough, you did. I WILL say that me claiming to be the smartest man that ever existed was cocky and I fault myself for that; I could’ve just given my input without being a wiseass. But then I decided to check all feedback to see what idea YOU might’ve had. You had none. You posted on that article 3 times and all 3 were in response to other people’s ideas. The abridged version? The first one was “bad idea”, the second one was “bad idea” and throwing a dig at garbage men for being “unskilled”, then mine you referenced mouth cancer and that the people I work with look at me as an “arse” for “imposing” on them. I WILL say that I have made 4 of them for the guys I work with and they were all upon request.

You don’t seem too supportive a guy, my friend; might want to take a look at that. But I ask, what do YOU do with your old blades? I’m always open to suggestions as I veritably know and subscribe to the adage of there “always being a better way”.